Chapter 1: A Change of Scenery

Disclaimer: All characters in the story belong to the Disney Company and not to me.

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Darkwing Duck, the lone caped crime fighter of St. Canard, was in a very sour mood. It was quite unusual for him to be so riled up during the holiday season, especially with Christmas having just past two days ago. Then again, things hadn't been going particularly well for him recently.

The month of December had started off with him attempting to stop a heist by Liquidator and Bushroot, who were set on stealing a shipment of gold straight off the ship it came on. While he managed to catch the pair in the act, he only managed to recover half the gold and both of them had escaped arrest.

Shortly after that, FOWL's top agent Steelbeak threatened the Christmas season by selling bombs in the shape of ornaments to the unsuspecting public. While he'd traced the crime back to the agent with minimal damage done to St. Canard, Steelbeak had also managed to escape his grasp.

From there, he had to deal with a number of dangerous criminals ranging from Negaduck, who hated anything cheery and wanted to put his own homicidal damper on the occasion, to the deranged Megavolt and his equally deranged partner Quackerjack stealing Christmas lights from the shelves and putting dangerous toys in their place.

This wouldn't have been a bad thing; in fact Darkwing was always happier when there were more crimes to solve, except that none of the cases had ended the way the terror of the night had wanted them to. Normally, every crime he faced ended in a pretty formulaic fashion: he was put on a case, he found the person responsible, he brought the person to justice and all wrongdoings were undone. However, these past couple of outings, all of the bad guys had escaped justice and most of them had even managed to retain some of their loot. He felt like he was loosing his edge and it didn't help that the rest of St. Canard seemed to think so too. That afternoon, he'd read an article in the Canard Times about how they thought he just wasn't up the job anymore and should consider an early retirement. This wasn't their first piece on the subject and after ripping the paper up into tiny little shreds, he stomped up to his Audubon Bay Bridge hideout, making it clear he wanted to be left alone for a while.

And to make my life even better, everybody's favorite superhero from Duckberg is in town. Darkwing thought sulkily as he stared out at the city from the large windows on the bridge.

Indeed, Gizmoduck had appeared in town just before Christmas and as usual, all of St. Canard was going nuts over the famous robotic duck. It didn't help that Gizmoduck had managed to solve a couple of crimes in the city before he could. That just added a fresh layer of annoyance to Darkwing's already miserable state.

Grumbling to himself and glaring out at the Bay's scenery, he didn't notice that his sidekick was tentatively standing behind him. Launchpad knew that his crime fighting friend was in a really bad mood and his efforts to cheer him up might backfire badly. Then again, he figured, it couldn't hurt to try. Clearing his throat loudly, he finally broke the terror of the night out of his depressing thoughts.

"Hi Launchpad." He muttered with no enthusiasm. "What do you want?"

"Well, DW, I know you've been down lately and I think I might have come up with something that'll cheer you up."

"Unless you're here to tell me that Gizmoduck has dropped dead of a heart attack, I highly doubt that. Besides, coming up with ideas has never been one of your strong suits."

The sidekick ignored the jibe, not one to get discouraged so easily. "Well, I may be simple minded, but sometimes it's the simplest things that make us happy. That's why when I first came up with this idea; I thought it was so simple that I should have thought of it before."

"What is it?" Darkwing asked, wanting him to get to the point.

"A vacation." Launchpad stated with confidence.

Darkwing just turned around to stare at his sidekick in disbelief, wondering if he'd heard him correctly. It certainly wasn't the answer he was expecting.

"'A vacation?'" He repeated incredulously.

"Yes! And I found the perfect location." The pilot added, handing the super hero a flyer with information that he'd gotten out of the paper. His friend took it from him and looked it over with a raised eyebrow. It was a travel poster, with the typical advertising slogans plastered with pictures of sunlight, warm beaches and plates of food.

"Jacova? The tropical island on the other side of the world?"

"Why not? You've been complaining about how cold it's been in St. Canard. This little island's got great weather, plenty of beaches and beautiful scenery, not to mention all the exotic foods we could try. I mean, what's not to like?"

"Launchpad," the masked mallard replied patiently, "I can't just pack up and go halfway across the world on a whim. After all, I'm the resident hero of St. Canard. If I leave, who'll protect the city?"

"Aw, come on DW, it's not like St. Canard is gonna collapse in on itself just because you took a break. Nobody can expect you to keep on going day in and day out everyday for the whole year fighting crimes without you getting a little tired. It's only natural that if you don't do something for yourself every once in a while, it wears ya down. Honestly, I bet you can't even think of the last time you did anything that wasn't crime related."

Darkwing opened his bill to argue the point, but he couldn't. His sidekick was right; he didn't remember the last time he'd taken time off to do something as just plain, normal Drake Mallard. He sighed and looked down at the flyer again.

"You really think it's a good idea?" He received a vigorous nod as a response and began mulling out loud. "Well, I suppose it would give me an opportunity to spend more time with Gosalyn."

"That's the spirit, DW. A little R&R in a new place will be just what the doctor ordered. It'll take your mind off things and when we get back, I bet Darkwing Duck will be better than ever!"

The masked mallard finally cracked a smile at this and crossed his arms with an affirmative nod.

"I guess I can trust that loudmouthed tin can to take care of things while I'm away. Alright, LP, I'm in. How soon can we leave for Jacova?"

His sidekick beamed at his friend's compliance. "I can fly us there as early as tomorrow morning. But there is a condition," Launcpad added quickly, "you're not going to do anything crime related while we're in the area. Even if you find something suspicious going on over there, you're going to ignore it and leave it in the hands of the local authorities. You're just going to be Drake Mallard and take time for yourself. Do we have a deal?"

Darkwing hesitated for a moment, not really liking that idea. He looked from the flyer back to his sidekick who had his arms crossed in an obstinate matter. He heaved an overdramatic, heavy sigh as he finally responded:

"I suppose…"

After all, what could possibly happen over there that they'd need a super hero to fix it? That little island is known for its low crime rate and friendly native population. I'm sure it'll be fine…

"Great! Boy, I can't wait to tell Gos about this."

"Tell me what?" The familiar voice of the little red haired duckling cut in shrilly. She was wearing a green Christmas sweater and still had a little bit of snow in her hair from sledding outside. She looked between her father and his sidekick curiously, wondering what they had been talking about.

"Gosalyn sweetie, I need you to pack your bags tonight because we're going on a vacation."

"A vacation?" She whooped excitedly as she ran up to her father. "Where to? Where to?"

Darkwing handed her the flyer, which she promptly snatched out of his hand. Her grin grew bigger and bigger as she went down the page.

"Jacova? Keen gear! I'm gonna visit all the beaches, go swimming, surfing, diving and maybe I'll even get to sneak on one of those ritzy cruise boats." She added, though she wilted a little bit at the stern look her Dad gave her after she said that last bit.

"So, uh, when are we leaving?" Gosalyn asked changing the subject with a nervous giggle.

"Early tomorrow morning. So go home and get ready now. I expect you to be all packed and ready to go by then. That's not an excuse for you to stay up too late though." He added the last bit knowing his daughter all too well. This time, however, he didn't receive the ceremonial protests, but a kiss on his cheek.

"Don't worry Dad, I won't." She told him as she headed back towards the portal to get back to their house. "Yahoo! Vacation!" She shouted, practically bouncing off the walls with excitement. Darkwing smiled sweetly at her as she left, glad that he had made her so happy. It had lightened his mood considerably and turned back to his sidekick with a sheepish expression on his face.

"Um, Launchpad? Sorry about what I said to you earlier. This really is a great idea."

"Hey, no problem. After all, what're friends for?"

Darkwing nodded, thinking in his head that he was very lucky indeed to have a good friend like Launchpad. He was actually starting to feel a little excited himself over the prospect of going away for a while. As he continued staring out at the snow covered city of St. Canard, the masked mallard felt some of his confidence begin to come back to him.

"You know, LP, I have a feeling this is going to be a vacation we're never going to forget."

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Author's Note: First off, I apologize for the shortness of this first chapter, but it's definitely going to pick up in the next chapter. After all, when does DW ever have a quiet, relaxing –well - anything? I hope you liked it!